Melvin immediately sat up straight and looked away from her for a moment. He took a breath, gathered whatever courage he had left, and cleared his throat.
"H-hey."
What was that? Even I barely heard him, and I was sitting across from him while Iseballa was several feet away.
Man, this guy really was a newbie.
"Louder," I whispered.
"Hey."
Iseballa turned when she heard him and walked toward our table. She looked at him and flashed a polite smile.
"Hey, empty bottles? Let me grab those for you."
"T-thanks?"
She glanced at me, looked forward, then glanced at me again.
"Oh, Evan. It's you. Hey."
"Y-yeah," I replied nervously. "I'm here with my friend, Melvin."
"Right, Melvin." She nodded. "I'm Iseballa. Nice to meet you."
"We already met," he said quietly.
"Oh!" She slapped her forehead, making the empty glasses on her tray rattle. "Right. That thing with that weird Russian dude. Poor Eleanor."
She shook her head before looking back at us.
